Written & Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Starring Jennifer Lawrence & Javier Bardem

Release date 2017

A couple lives in their beautiful country home, which has been completely rebuilt and refurnished from a disastrous fire, by the hands and heart of “Mother” ( Jennifer Lawrence). Her husband, or partner, it never specified, called The Poet or “Him” (Javier Bardem) is stuck in a creative rut while trying to write his next masterpiece. Oddly enough, the couple resides in the middle of a lush open field, but begins to receive unexpected visitors, played by a star studded cast, (Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, Jovan Adepo, Kristen Wiig and more) all wanting to meet the Poet. “Mother” wants to keep their home at peace and remain in isolation, but “Him” welcomes the strangers, no matter how large and destructive they become in their sacred space. The influx of trespassing has “Mother” fighting for the safety of her home, new born baby, and her life. The decision relies on the Poet to make all these new intruders leave or allow them to make their own home within his. According to “Mother” it’s her house, but according to “Him” it’s everyones.

Story

I am absolutely in love with this film. The entirety of it is a masterpiece and the story alone is so strong and eyeopening from any perspective, whether you are apart of a religion, a spiritual group, a believer in the collective/universe/creation, or just aware of Mother Earth and us as a species of existence who inhabits its space, Mother! hits the nail on the existential head. I have not watched other films that carry this particular story nor portray it in such a massive way. The opening places us at the end of another story with some sort of mass destruction, and then a sort of rebirth is what takes place before us and we’re at a new beginning. From there, it’s an ongoing fight between passion and chaos layered with symbolism and figurations. There is a distinct correlation to characters and stories of the Christian and Catholic Bible, which I will be the first to say, there’s about a zillion other beliefs that could have been portrayed instead; however, given that most people will understand what they’re implying, I still found so many ways for other interpretations to fit as well. I also think the use of Christianity/Catholicism in American-made films is comprehended the easiest, therefore the story is simpler to grasp for viewers. Well…at least somewhat, because this whole things goes mad later on.

What I enjoyed about the characters is how “anti-religious” they are. In fact, there’s no actual mention of “God” or religion at all; it’s just the Poet and his wife and people are either OBSESSED with them while others don’t care at all about either of them but just want to invade and inhabit their home. You see the portrayal of certain role’s such as “Adam & Eve” (Man & Woman is what they’re titled as) and Adam is a stumblebum while Eve is an entitled bitch, which might have been true in real life but no one has ever created a scenario where we can see that. They obviously modernize certain aspects of these people and their environment, but overall gives it an authentic feel to what these people might have actually been like, if they really existed. It makes you also think about how we have been taught to idealize these figures based on biblical censorship, to be near perfect and linear without much depth to them, but just like any human being, we have complexities, selfish wants and honest goals, survival tactics and flaws. Whoever the first people were to exist, they might have actually been not-so-great, or they might have just been normal dudes who didn’t care if there was a creator or not, or if they knew there was a creator, they might have been fascinated by Them but not in a fear based sense, but in an appreciation of Their work. Yet, all we’ve been told is God created 1 man and 1 woman first, and from them came both life and destruction, now men are prideful and women have periods, the end. What are we supposed to do with that?!

By the end of this, our focus and sympathy is with Mother, who I’m assuming is Gaia, Mother Nature, Earth personified, and how every bit of her nurturing, giving and caring qualities have been completely drained, manipulated and abused, until she’s just a pile of ash. This film really did justice at mindfully orchestrating this song and dance of how much Earth provides for us and how much we really do take it for granted. What’s unique is the love story between Earth and the Creator when it was just them two, when they had everything they needed before we came along. It also imposes the theory that there might have been a lot of “In the Beginning” stories, different attempts the Creator curated that all lead to death and ruin, but He just keeps trying again because that’s who they are, and Earth or Life “The Inspiration” as they also call her, She will just keep being reborn, regrown, and always ready to love the Creator and all that comes from it, because that’s who they are. It all was extremely poetic to me and although we shouldn’t feel guilty for existing, which I don’t believe is apart of the message here at all, but we should try to be aware of our existence and what we bring to the table we all have to sit at.

Imagery & Production

I would love to have an entire day to sit with this production team and learn how they put this insanity together. When I say this movie takes off, I can not stress that enough. There’s moments where my jaw is just dropped because I can’t fathom how long it took to gather everything in order to conduct the scenes. I read that Jennifer Lawrence actually took a year off from work after filming this because of how strenuous it all was. They fit so many people into this house, that goes from a beautiful country home to something otherworldly, which ultimately leads to its flame engulfed demolition. If the story doesn’t land for you, I truly believe the imagery alone is strong enough to enjoy the length.

Phillip Messina was the Production Designer for Mother! who also worked on sets such as The Hunger Games, Oceans 13 and 11 and The Last Airbender. He’s done incredible work previously and just an all around strong Art Director, so it’s no wonder he was able to put together a phenomenal crew to bring to life this absurd fantasy. There’s a specific cleverness with the home we are in the entire time, with its simple interior and decorations that all hold special value; it makes it delicate yet comfortable and safe. By the time everyone has had their way with this house, I felt as if the structure also experienced such vigorous pain. They really brought this house to life and then murdered it.

Costuming was also another department that I’m sure was up to their chins deep. Besides our main characters and about 20 supporting roles, we have also the groups of rebels, helpers, slaves, police, cult members, ritualistic tribes and more, so so so much more. And that baby scene?!?! My heart fell out of my throat! There’s a scene where Mother is getting brutally beaten by the crowd, and you see her face receive these gruesome hits and transition into a bloody and bruised canvas (shout out makeup team, wow!). I really can’t say more without giving too much away, other than it’s a stunning piece of work, and as an artist I sincerely appreciate every single detail they made sure to include.

Performance

I love the casting, they really placed each actor correctly, and they all delivered. Jennifer Lawrence is always so believable in any character she’s put in, and you can tell she really gave her all for this particular part. Javier Bardem was such an interesting choice that somehow made sense, carrying a soft masculinity about him that’s unchanging and honest. Then we have goddess Michelle Pfeiffer as Woman, who I always swoon over, Ed Harris as Man and a surprise supporting role from Kristen Wiig that’s totally her niche but in an entirely different way. An interesting fact, no one in the entire film was given real names. They’re either mentioned by their characters occupation (the poet, the publicist, etc) or credited as their title (cupboard, Harold, zealot, fool, healer, etc). Although I don’t think there was enough time to really establish certain roles that we would fully comprehend, for instance, some characters I had no idea who they were supposed to be until the end credits. Once you do know who everyone was however, then everything you watch makes much more sense after the fact. It’s a very challenging thing to try and embody manners and traits rather than flushed out personalities, because you have to be all of that one thing within the short amount of time you’re shown, without being too on the nose or flat out saying “I’m the drunkard.” Ultimately, the entire cast gave a staggering performance, absolutely outstanding.

Meaning

So, what is this trying to convey? We’re all terrible creations that shouldn’t deserve all the life we have?…possibly, but then again, we can waive our own fists in the air and shout that we never asked to be here in the first place. With that in mind, though we didn’t decide to be here, we are, and we exist in a space where our being leaves impressions on everything and everyone around us. That alone comes with responsibility, in part to become aware of the impact we have on our environment and in another part to acquire self discipline to act outside of our ego-centered impulses. Does God or the Creator have this metrical and almost narcissistic relationship with Earth or the Spirit of Life and Existence? A great mystery to ponder down our own transcendent paths, but there are still tangible and materialized issues that us as mere human beings can deconstruct and reform, such as how we treat our only home that we all share and how we treat each other, especially those who are givers, and what it means to give, receive and give back.

The ethos of dispensation that so many of us on this planet have should definitely be alarming. The delusion of an abundance of resources without proper maintenance, the idea that we have full permission to indulge in our wants without the consideration of our consequences, or even worse, the denial of those consequences, is the very essence of what I believe this film is bearing. We have pushed ourselves past boundaries that were not meant for us to occupy. We are fixated on the deified concept of “expansion” and “freedom” which has perverted and misconstrued those very things. We think this land is this big for us to fill up all the corners with our stuff and we assume that someone else will clean up the mess. How did we become so arrogant? The love of money? Of power? Do we actually have as much power as we think or is God and the Universe just allowing us to self destruct because once this lifetime is said and done, They’ll just start all over again? There’s a fine line between seeing ourselves as important and necessary and yet realizing that our very existence is not only replaceable but completely temporary.

Life has shown me such divine and supernatural enchantment, secrets of existence that confirm my belief that we are crafted with such love and importance, and we are supposed to enjoy the splendor of nature, the breathtaking canvas that’s before us. As a human being, I’ve realize, witnessed and experienced terrible pain and cruelty, sickness and ailments, injustice, abuse, poverty, prejudice, fear and death. I’ve screamed at God and the Universe for it all, I’ve held hate in my heart for those who have wronged me and others. Nevertheless, I have also been embraced by peace and joy, gratitude and forgiveness, compassion and understanding, self awareness and growth. Through it all, I have discerned that my privileges and disadvantages in no way make it permissible to vandalized and and frankly sh*t on whatever I want to. Apart of loving myself is loving the world around me, taking care of it just as I would myself, which is why healthy identity is so important, an entirely other conversation, but that in turn is how I see the gift of life. We are given such a rare and miraculous opportunity to authentically expand all of creation, not just ourselves, and truly embrace a sustainable freedom for all walks of life, heavily including Mother Nature. Take care of our home, and don’t be an asshole. Simple.

Yes yes yes watch this movie, it’s ambitiously magnificent.